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Victoria - Organisation

Seventh Day Adventist Welfare Organisation (1920? - 1993?)

From
1920?
To
1993?
Categories
Adoption Agency, Care Provider and Seventh-day Adventist Church
Alternative Names
  • Seventh Day Adventist Adoption Agency (Also known as)

The Seventh Day Adventist Welfare Organisation was an arm of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, established in Victoria in 1886. The Seventh Day Adventist Welfare Organisation was one of the 22 private adoption agencies approved by the Adoption Act 1964. There are records relating to adoptions organised by the organisation in the collection of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Details

Research conducted to date for the Find & Connect web resource project has located very little information about the activities of the Seventh Day Adventist Welfare Organisation in Victoria and its involvement in adoptions.

One article from 1950 contains some information about the Church's welfare program. The Herald had an article profiling Mrs JG Cornell of Hampton, who had worked as the welfare officer for the Seventh Day Adventists since 1932. The article states that Cornell 'investigates all applications for assistance … helped in her work by a band of voluntary workers. Each Seventh Day Adventist church has its own Dorcas Society - women who sew and knit for needy people in Australia and abroad. Last year the welfare society distributed 7170 articles and helped 12,000 people' (The Herald, 8 March 1950, p.17).

According to the same article: 'Seventh Day Adventists regard welfare work as an intrinsic part of their religion. It helps people of all denominations. Doctor, dentist and tradesmen members give their services voluntarily for recommended cases'.

Publications

Online Resources

Sources used to compile this entry: Welfare Work by Adventists, The Herald, 8 March 1950, 17 pp, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244325719; 'Seventh Day Adventist (Adoption Agency) (-1993)', in Finding Records, Department of Health and Human Services, Government of Victoria, 2016, https://www.findingrecords.dhhs.vic.gov.au/collectionresultspage/Seventh-Day-Adventist-Adoption-Agency; James Jenkinson Consulting, Guide to out-of-home care services 1940-2000 - Volume One: Agency Descriptions, Department of Human Services, Unpublished, November 2001, https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/DHS.3004.011.0367.pdf.

Prepared by: Cate O'Neill